Sea Green Eyes

Chapter 26

Percy climbed out on deck and said, "Wow."

They had landed near the summit of a forested hill. A complex of white buildings, like a museum or a university, nestled in a grove of pines to the left. Below them spread the city of Atlanta—a cluster of brown and silver downtown skyscrapers two miles away, rising from what looked like an endless flat sprawl of highways, railroad tracks, houses, and green swathes of forest.

"Ah, lovely spot." Coach Hedge inhaled the morning air, all anger from before gone. "Good choice, Valdez."

"It's beautiful," Cressida said as she walked onto the deck and Percy grinned.

"Not as beautiful as you," he said and she rolled her eyes, not entirely used to the compliments he gave her, especially since she was dressed for questing. She wore combat boots today, her Solace Solution and switchblade likely tucked inside. Her purple leggings were skin-tight, and she wore a black tank top with the word KISS printed on it, a blue flannel tied around her waist, and her hair braided down her back.

"That was both cheesy and corny," she said as she stood next to him, hands linked together.

"And yet true."

"I just picked a tall hill. That's a presidential library or something over there. At least that's what Festus says," Leo said, interrupting their little moment.

"I don't know about that!" Hedge barked. "But do you realize what happened on this hill? Frank Zhang, you should know!"

Frank flinched. "I should?"

"A son of Ares stood here!" Hedge cried indignantly.

"I'm Roman...so Mars, actually."

"Whatever! Famous spot in the American Civil War!"

"I'm Canadian, actually."

"Whatever!"

And Cressida pressed her lips together as she tried not to laugh at a complete trainwreck of a conversation, knowing that if she looked at Percy, it would be all over.

"General Sherman, Union leader. He stood on this hill watching the city of Atlanta burn. Cut a path of destruction all the way from here to the sea. Burning, looting, pillaging—now there was a demigod!"

Frank inched away from the satyr. "Uh, okay."

"Anyway," Percy said, "let's try not to burn down the city this time."

The coach looked disappointed. "All right. But where to?"

Percy pointed toward downtown. "When in doubt, start in the middle."

Cressida frowned. "Where in Hades did you pull that saying from?"

"Made it up."

"Clearly."

He rolled his eyes at her before tugging her towards the rope ladder. "Come on, Grape Girl. Let's go scour all of Atlanta for salt water."

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Catching a ride was easier than they thought as they headed to the library which turned out to be the Carter Centre, where they asked for directions to the nearest bus stop. Cressida suggested summoning Blackjack, but Percy didn't really want to bother the pegasus after the last disaster, nor did he want to be crammed on the back of a horse with Frank and the Coach. Frank also didn't want to morph into anything, so Percy thought it would be good to travel like a mortal for once. Even when Cressida reminded him that their last bus trip ended up with all three Furies attacking them before the bus exploded.